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Synthetic fuels are made from energy sources like coal, natural gas, tar sands, or biomass. The US government invested in synthetic fuel production, with companies like Shell and Exxon using them. Synthetic fuels are classified based on raw materials used, with Coal-To-Liquids, Gas-To-Liquids, and Biomass-To-Liquids being the most important processes. The Fischer-Tropsch process is widely used to convert coal, biomass, or natural gas into synthetic fuels. The first step is to convert the raw material into carbon monoxide and hydrogen gas, creating syngas that can be used as fuel or further processed into diesel or biodiesel.
Synthetic fuels are any liquid fuel made from something that has energy, such as coal, natural gas, tar sands, or biomass. Conversely, a natural fuel would be something like oil. Synthetic fuels are often referred to as synthetic fuels.
In 1944, when the synthetic liquid fuel program was established as a program managed by the US Bureau of Mines, the US government supported the production of synthetic fuels with investment. As a result, there has been a big push for oil and gas companies to use them, as many do, for example Shell, Exxon, Statoil, Rentech and Syntroleum. However, this synthetic fuel program was terminated by Congress in 1985 after spending $8 billion United States Dollars (USD) over a 40-year period. A synthetic fuel tax credit program was instituted in the 1970s, continuing the push into synthetic fuels. TECO, Progress Energy, DTE and Marriott took advantage of this.
Synthetic fuels are classified based on what raw material was used to create them. By far, the three most important processes are Coal-To-Liquids (CTL), Gas-To-Liquids (GTL) and Biomass-To-Liquids (BTL).
The most common form of synthetic fuel is liquefied coal and its derivatives. The Fischer-Tropsch process, developed by Nazi Germany and used today by Sasol in South Africa, is one of the most widely used to convert coal, as well as biomass or natural gas, into synthetic fuels.
Whatever you’re using to make your synthetic fuels, the first step is to convert them into carbon monoxide and hydrogen gas. In natural gas gas such as methane, this requires partial combustion. For coal or biomass, gasification is required, which means combining the material with water and oxygen or air at high temperatures. The carbon in the coal combines with the oxygen in the water to create carbon monoxide, while the remaining hydrogen atoms create hydrogen gas. This produces a substance called syngas, which can itself be used as fuel or further processed into diesel or another derivative.
Diesel used to be made only from petroleum, so it was called petrodiesel. Today, other substances are used to produce it, such as biomass or natural gas, therefore biodiesel.
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